


Nicholas St. North

by Hobbyist_Writer



Series: Exception Verse [2]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-16
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-18 07:50:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5908411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hobbyist_Writer/pseuds/Hobbyist_Writer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Guardians of Childhood are used to their charges slowly losing belief in them as they grow older. BUT! Sometimes...sometimes there are exceptions. Long ago, there was a girl who Santa Claus visited. This year, as he visits another little girl, he runs into her again. </p><p>Cross-posted from fanfiction.net (under the title "Exception Verse", this would be Chapter 2).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nicholas St. North

Nicholas St. North, Bandit King, Guardian of Wonder and more commonly known as Santa Claus was on his last town for the night. It was the night before Christmas and he was giddy from the high of nearly completely yet another successful delivery.

No freak snowstorms requiring him to magic a reindeer’s nose to glow. No rips in his magical sack causing delays because of the necessity of picking up any fallen presents. No chimney mishaps at all this year.

And best of all!!!

It so happened that this year he was able to save a special town for last. There was something about this little town…something about the belief that could be found here. It was _stronger_ somehow. It was a heady feeling. Maybe it was the forest that surrounded it, the way it looked like something out of a fairy tale…the way that maybe, just maybe, that tiny movement you saw from the corner of your eye _was_ something magical.

North didn’t know. All he knew was that he liked the town…especially because so many of the children here were on the nice list! So many believers here, most of the children even held onto it a little longer than average.

Last house for the night and it was back to the Pole for hot chocolate and cookies and a well-deserved nap.

After arranging the presents under the tree in an aesthetically pleasing manner, North caught sight of a plate full of cookies. Chocolate chip ones.

“Child will be sad if not even one is touched…” North mused quietly to himself, “But is probably store bought cookies. Bah!” he made a face of disgust.

With a small sigh, he picked one up, surprised that it was a larger than normal cookie, one that actually fit nicely in his huge hand. The commercialized ones usually looked so tiny when he picked them up.

He bit into the cookie and almost immediately his eyes widened.

The cookie was practically inhaled. North almost swooned. It was as good as the ones the yetis made…maybe even better!

Chucks of smooth milk chocolate…

Some other spice counterpointing the flavour perfectly so it wasn’t overly sweet…

Santa Claus picked up another cookie, “This!” he exclaimed, his eyes shining big and bright, “It. Absolute. Perfection.” He ate the cookie with great relish.

“I’m glad you like them. Family recipe.”

“Gah!” North nearly dropped the glass of milk he had picked up from where it rested next to the plate of cookies.

He spun around to see one of the occupants of the household. A thirty-something-old woman with long brown hair and laughing eyes. She was wrapped in a dressing gown and leaned on the stair railing that overlooked the living room.

North conspicuously looked around, trying to see whoever the woman was talking to.

She giggled, “They’re a family recipe.” She repeated, “I made them myself…with some help from my little one. Would you like to see her?”

“Me?” North said disbelievingly, pointing at himself.

She crooked a finger at him and headed back up the stairs.

North waited a beat then grabbed another cookie and followed.

She was standing in the hall, just outside an open door. She smiled at him and motioned him inside.

North found himself in a plainly furnished room. The furniture was all practical, things the small child within could grow with. But the walls…the walls all showed scenes of the forest outside but they cycled through the four seasons.

Here there was the bright green of summer with sunlight shining bright through the leaves. Here the leaves were golds and reds and burnished coppers, signalling the change in season. Here the trees were frosted over, snow piling on the ground then finally the smooth transition of spring, new pale green plants springing to life.

And there, fast asleep on a large wooden bed, wrapped in a multi-coloured quilt, was a little version of the woman who greeted North. She couldn’t have seen more than four summers.

North gazed in awe at the slumbering face. Against the white of her pillow, the child’s tousled brown hair stood out sharply. Her fair face was smooth and a small smile played along her lips, probably due to the golden dream that spiraled above her head.

“She has her father’s eyes, blue as the morning sky.” The woman spoke, breaking the spell that had fallen over the old Corsair, “Thank goodness or she’d have grown up to be plain Jane like her mother.”

North glanced over his shoulder at the young mother, “She is beautiful. As is her mother, I am certain.”

A small smile appeared on her face, “Come on, you flatterer. You can finish the cookies downstairs and I’ll give you a batch to take to back with you.”

North fought to keep his reaction inconspicuous. He failed.

“Come on!” she said, fighting back laughter, “Before you wake her up!”

A short trip back downstairs found jolly old St. Nick scarfing down the rest of the cookies on the plate and washing them down with the milk. He patted his belly, content.

“I’m glad you like them so much.” The woman said from the doorway that led to the kitchen.

Santa jumped, “Korsakov’s ghost, woman! Make some noise, if you please!” then immediately reddened. He hadn’t meant to burst out like that.

But she only laughed, “Here you go.” She handed him a disposable container filled to the brim with the same chocolate-y goodness she called cookies.

He accepted the container with something approaching awe. North met her eyes then the spark of a brilliant idea hit him.

“Come with me, outside.” He told her, “I’ve something to show you.”

He hand seemed tiny in his, when North led the young woman to the winter wonderland that waited outside.

A piercing whistle then North watched the wonder blossom in her eyes.

A quiet gasp escaped her lips as she watched Santa’s sleigh, drawn by his reindeer, touch down in her front lawn.

“Everybody loves the sleigh.” North said.

There was a mischievous twinkle in North’s eye when he tugged her closer to him. He bent slightly and placed a kiss on her hand.

“This is thank you for cookies.” He told her, “And for keeping faith in me.”

Words seemed to have escaped her, because she could only stare at him with a childlike gleam in her eyes.

Before she could even think of forming a reply, North was already in his sleigh, reins in hand and calling out:

“Now! Dasher! Now! Dancer! Now! Prancer and Vixen! On! Comet! On! Cupid! On! Donner and Blitzen. To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

The reindeer reared on their hind legs before pushing strongly into the night sky. North looked back to see, her running onto the lawn, waving at him and his sleigh.

“Bye Santa!!!” the wind carried her voice up to him.

North grinned merrily and exclaimed: “Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!!”

North chuckled to himself, knowing that come morning it wouldn’t be just one girl who had a surprise waiting under the Christmas tree. He could almost picture the look on the young mother’s face when she sees what Santa had left for her under the tree.

He glanced at the seat next to him where the container of cookies sat snugly. He could hardly wait to get back! Maybe the kitchen yeti could find out the recipe if he gave one of the cookies to them.

North shrugged, he had no reason to dilly-dally then. He drew a snow globe out of his robes.

“I say: the North Pole!”

And was gone in a flash!

 

 

_“That’s it?” Jack exclaimed, “Cookies? She gave you cookies?”_

_“They are very good cookies.” North protested, “I get fresh batch every Christmas!” then in a mumble, “…Yeti still can’t figure out recipe…”_

_“But…!”_

_North sighed, “Jack, she is very special. One of few exceptions. Adult believer. Not many keep faith after childhood.”_

_“She is not little girl anymore but…” North looked around then waved Jack closer, “Sometimes still leave small present under tree.”_

_North patted Jack on the back, sending the Winter Sprite forward several paces._

_“Ask others if you want to know more!” he said over his shoulder, mind already on new prototypes, “Am sure they also have met her.”_

_Jack would_ definitely _ask the others. He was still forming his belief base and here was a grown-up who could see him without even trying! He wanted to know more…if she could see him then surely more kids would too…right?_

_Jack formed a snowball without even thinking of it and chucked it straight at North’s head. The big man stumbled and crashed into a huge pile of stuffed animals. When the older man finally extracted himself from the mess, North met Jack’s laughing gaze, a glint in his eyes that said volumes._

_A stuffed rabbit came whistling through the air straight at Jack!_

_Jack laughed and dodged it easily._

_“You’ll have to try harder than that, old man!” he shouted, already forming more snowballs._

 

_Fin..._

 

_...for now._

**Author's Note:**

> Author Notes from Fanfiction.net:  
> Hi guys. So when I said that the Exception Verse was a one-shot? Yeah, it didn't stay one. Here's another one-shot but with our Jolly Old Saint Nick! Gah. The idea came to me soon after I published Jack Frost's chapter but school and exams kept me away from my writing. Now I'm free and hey, just in time for the Christmas season!
> 
> So, early Christmas present to all RotG fans out there. Happy Christmas!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own RotG, the movie or the books. They belong to someone else. I also don't own the lyrics I borrowed. You guys should know where it's from. If you don't, then shame on you! Where's your Christmas spirit?


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